Free sites vs. free membership sites

When starting out as a freelancer, you will most probably do not have a lot of money on you. This means that when you are looking for that first job, you will be pushed to look for sites that offer you free memberships. Most of the sites that offer free memberships will often take a percentage of the total amount of money that you make while working through them. Although this may seem unfair to some people, it is actually a good way to work. This is because you get to work and then pay for the job later. This works very well with people who do not have a lot of money to work with at the start. It is also a very good model for the reason that if you do not work, then you are charged nothing. A good way to think of this is like when you go for a holiday for two or more months and you are not in a position to work. If you were on a paid site, that would mean that you pay for the two months even if you did not work.
Moving on to the paid membership sites. Most of these sites are very good to work for. This is because they often offer you a better pay then the free membership sites. Why then would someone go for the free ones if the paid ones offer a lot of money?
This can happen for several reasons:
• The first one is that the entrance conditions for these sites are very stringent. In most of the sites that I have tried to work and register for, the entry is often an interview where you have to write an article in a very short time span. This is often fifteen minutes. Given that you are coming up with a 150-word (usually) article and writing it in 15 minutes, you do not have a lot of space to work out the article. This means that you do not put your best into the writing and thus you most probably get rejected.
• The second one is obviously the amount of money that they charge for you to become a member. Some of the sites can charge as high as $19 per month for a membership. If you are just starting out and you do not have a lot of clients and work, you can begin to see why this would be a big problem for you.
• In most of the cases, there are a lot more clients in the free membership sites than in the paid sited. This is for the same reasons that a freelancer would choose a free site. A client does not want to pay for membership without the guarantee that they will get the best of the best. With that said, they would rather go for the free membership sites knowing that they will lose nothing if the articles or job is not of the quality that they need.
All in all, the choice for a free or a paid site rests on you. You have to look for the one that works better for you and go with it. Most of the freelancers often start with the free sites and then go on to register with the paid sites once they get the gist of the online workplace.

 

Choosing your place of work, i.e. your working website

Following my earlier posts, I had described what you need to do to be comfortable enough to start working. Then I talked about the need for you to know what areas you will be specializing in. After you have done all this, all that remains is for you to look for a job.

As you might know, most of the freelancers work online. This means that before you can start work you need to know what website you will be working on. There are so many of these out there but very few of them offer legitimate jobs.

What I mean is that there are some sites that are out there that are out to take your money and run. Most of them will ask you to pay a membership fee for you to join. You have to be very wary before you pay for the membership of any freelancing site. I am not saying that all of the websites that will ask you  to pay for their membership are scams, what I am saying is that you need to prove the legitimacy of the websites and the jobs that they offer before you dish out any money. This is because that are some very good websites that are out there that will give you consistent, better paying jobs than those that ask you to pay for membership..

In choosing the website that you will be working on, there is certain thing that you have to look out for:

• The first and most obvious one is if they charge fees for you to register. It is always good for you to join sites that are free but there are some very good ones that are paid for. I will explore this area in another blog. But this is a huge point for most people because you are looking for freelance jobs to get money. Thus you cannot pay for a membership if you have no money, right?
• The other is the amount of members that he website has. There are two types of members in any freelance website. The first are the clients and the others are the freelancers. I any freelance website, there is a chance that a percentage of these members are clients. And this means that the larger the number of members of the site, the higher the number of clients too.
• The other is amount of work that is available on the site. You may have to look for some website reviews for you to be able to tell which the websites that you would like to work on have a large number of jobs and those that do not.
• The pay that you can get from the website also varies from website to website and may be a sticking point for a lot of people. In this area you may have to talk to a few people for you to exactly know what pay to expect

With that being said, there are a lot more things that would make a person choose a freelance website over the other. All you need to do is find on that you find comfortable in and go with it.

 

what makes for a good workspace?

You may have heard and understood that you need to define the space that you will be working in in order for you to give the jobs that you will be taking all the concentration that they need. Once this is done, you will find that you will constantly be providing quality work and thus you will have happy clients who may come back for more.

In order to have the perfect workspace, you need to have a space that fulfills most if not all of the below criteria:

1. It must be spacious and comfortable- this means that the place that you choose must have enough space for you and whatever furniture you may want to put in there. You also need to ensure that once you get the furniture or the workstation, it will be comfortable enough to work in.
2. It should be away from distraction and noise- this is very important as it will give you the chance to work in peace and give your jobs the concentration that they deserve. It also ensures that you will have some alone time to plan for and timetable your jobs in silence and with all the concentration that is needed.
3. You need to have comfortable furniture in there-you will find that you will have to sit for long periods of time while you work. Thus it is a good idea to get furniture that will be comfortable for you and that will not let you tire no mater how long you sit. You also have to have furniture that will let you rest and stretch from time to time i.e. the space afforded by the furniture should not be too restrictive.
4. The space should have adequate air flow- we need oxygen to think. Thus you need to have proper circulation of air as it gets too uncomfortable to work in stuffy spaces. The good air flow will also ensure that it will not get too hot in the afternoons. Do not forget to have the option of shutting the airflow for the cold nights that you may need to work.
5. Have the space customized to fit your own needs-this is actually very important because if the space is made to your specifications, then you will; fit in more easily and thus will be able to work more comfortably. Also ensure that all the things that you need are there. If you need a tea pot, then have it. If you g\feel a microwave should be in there, then have it. Do not forget to have air conditioning if you feel that you need it.
6. Lastly, have all the amenities that you need- the most important thing to have is power. This is must because you will be running computers and phones in there. Thus get a place that has reliable power supply. If you can, have the internet installed in the workspace because you will find that you will be using it a lot.

You have to balance usability and workability. This means that you need to have a space that you will be comfortable in and at the same time that you can work comfortable in. please try to get the space that you are sure will work for you. remember that you do not have to rent the space as you can curve a small space In your house for this. Also keep in mind that what works for me might not work for you and thus you need to have the space made to your specifications and in the way that you will find it easiest to us and to work in there.

 

before you get started

After you have made the decision that you would like to leave the office and let go of that mean boss of yours and plunge fully into the world of freelancing, you have to start getting prepared to work as a freelancer. As such, there will be things that you will need to look into even before you decide to start looking for a job. One of the greatest attributes of a freelancer is patience. Patience to wait for a job that you applied for to come through for you and patience to wait for the contractor to pay because some of them take some time before they pay. Another thing that you have to have is the ability to define the skills that you have and thus the areas that you would like to get involved with.

The biggest mistake that most freelancers make is to try to get everything and work on a full plate at the same time. The downside of this is that they end up with half done projects and those that are complete are usually of low quality. The best thing to do is to always take a niche and stick to it. if you are a writer, then do not try to be a designer because if you do then you are bound to fail in one of the two.This is the very essence of knowing what you can do best and doing it whole heatedly.

After you are done defining what you can do best and what skills you need to have in order to succeed in the fields that you have chosen, it is time for you to assemble your tools of trade. For most of the freelancers, this is a computer, an internet connection and a phone. These are the tools that will help you reach the contractors and be able to work like you are supposed to.

You may need to define the space that you will be working in. This may be an area that you designate for your work if you are serious about working as a freelancer. The requirements of the workspace and the things that you need to look at when you are choosing it will form the basis of the next article.

 

why freelance work?

There are very few motivations that can make one leave their well paying job for a freelance job that they are not sure whether will be able to pay and sustain them. It is this reason that many people end up wondering why one would leave their 8-5 job for a freelance job that they are not sure is going to pay.

There are so many reasons why this may happen with most of the reasons being very personal and unique. If you feel that the job that you do does not satisfy you in the way that you would want it to then you are the perfect candidate for a freelance job. The freelance job will give you the satisfaction in the knowledge that you are working at what you love and thus you are using your abilities in the best way.

The other thing is that you need to invest very little in order for you to start as a freelancer. Most of the time all you may need is an Internet connection and a computer. Of course you will need knowledge on the areas that you would like to focus on as a freelancer. These are the basics that you need and as you can see you can start on your business with very little capital and a very small investment.

The range of jobs that are available to freelancers is so wide that there is something for everyone. In most of the freelance sites that i have worked for, there are always more than 50 categories that you can identify with and start working on. The reason that there is always something for everyone is also another reason for you to look into taking on a freelance job.

If you feel that the restriction of the hours that you can work in  your 8-5 job are very restrictive then you are also free to join a freelance site. At the end of the day it is all about fitting where you feel you belong.

There are certain things that you must put in order before you start on freelance work and these will be my focus on the next article.